International Law

The UNGASS was a disappointment to both progressives and hardliners alike. Whilst we may decry the small progress in the outcome document, we can find solace in the fact that an increasing number of countries seem intent on acting unilaterally outside the UN Drug Conventions. Principled non-compliance may start to become the norm.

In the wake of a new climate of increasingly high-definition digital terror, we must question the use of propaganda and special influence methods in modern warfare. States are dangerously trespassing on the prohibition on propaganda for war. We must seek to avoid creating a mirror image of ISIS.

For governments, in an effort to avoid political controversy, the four pillars may seem attractive. For those who support drug policy reform they may seem progressive. But this is no win for drug policy reform or progress towards policies grounded in evidence and human rights.

I think it is vital that we involve those directly at the centre of the issue - we must include women in discussions, and even in leadership roles, centred on the issue of sexual violence against women.

Sexual violence is a specifically reprehensible form of violence, and includes rape and any other attack of a sexual nature perpetuated against both males and females. Its repercussions can be iniquitous, and may include acute and physical repercussions for survivors and witnesses. Human trafficking can also lead to sexual violence, and I will be discussing the issue of 'modern slavery' in this article. I will also highlight the brutal effects of sexual violence in conflict.

Encouraging the Palestinians to accede to the ICC, which they have been eligible to do since attaining Observer State status at the UN in 2012, would introduce an accountability mechanism that would deter future violence. It would also provide an incentive for each side to stay at the negotiating table.

When two aid workers were shot dead in Afghanistan last month, the world's media focused its attention on the dangers of 21st century humanitarianism and the challenges that assistance agencies face in protecting their personnel.

Lethal Autonomous Robotics (LARs). This emerging breed of technology will be able to select a target, aim and fire with no intervention from human beings beyond programming and deployment. War could be about to get a lot cheaper, a lot less bloody... and a lot more frequent.

Last weekend, a former UK Prime Minister was ambushed and verbally berated by a brazen bar worker (Mr. Garcia). Whilst serving the former PM as he dined in an east London restaurant, Mr. Garcia believed it appropriate to perform "a citizen's arrest for a crime against peace...". A few days after this extraordinary episode took place, the UK national newspapers gave front page honour to the incident.

I work for Médecins sans Frontières (aka Doctors Without Borders). Professional humanitarians are many things; rarely superstitious. And yet 2013 has proven a year to leave behind, and I find myself harbouring nothing morbid, yet nonetheless fairly shaken by the 13th year of the new millennium... As a director in MSF, the spectre of Somalia 2013 leaves me feeling apprehensive about Syria, CAR or Sudan in 2014. Or Myanmar and DRC. Or many others.

Human rights have become toxic in Britain. There is no genuine public debate over the issue - debates are supposed to be two sided, and progressive forces have not yet found a successful response to calls to scrap the Human Rights Act and withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights... However, research on public attitudes suggests that this is a debate that pro-human rights forces could win.

To exempt the military is to suggest that the Second Estate somehow has a special status. This was the case in the past, when rulers could declare a state of war to enforce repressive policies. But society has advanced. When it comes to the rule of law, no one is special.

The EU needs to be an ethical, moral, and legal counterbalance to the United States regarding the use of armed drones, and to play a leading role in developing the international standards which are emerging to govern their use. When the International Committee of the Red Cross has finally gone on record to state that certain aspects of the drone wars are "problematic," it is obvious that the time is ripe for action.

While many of the world's governments want to prevent genocide, they almost never act to achieve this aim. This despite most being signatories to the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide which is explicitly designed to compel them to do just that.

We are extremely concerned about the legal basis, as well as the moral, ethical and human rights implications of the United States' targeted killing programme, which does not respect due process or the rule of law and instead addresses terrorism as an act of war rather than a crime allowing the US to engage in wartime conduct and forego the legal system and transparent justice.

The EU Strategy responds to debates over human rights and the internet, especially regarding censorship, by reaffirming fundamental rights, democracy and the rule of law in cyberspace. What I find interesting is that, according to the Strategy, there is no human 'right' to access the internet.

On my recent trip to Jamaica I spent US election day with homeless gay kids who had been forced into sex work in Kingston, Jamaica. These were life changing moments. I didn't give them any money though, that wasn't the point; but should I have?

Nothing can be gained through the use of judicial executions or the assassinating of people, even if they are guilty of crimes (terrorism) they have previously committed. The cost to human life should be the single biggest motivating factor toward finding a way to end all violence immediately.